Interstellar Objects Outnumber Solar System Objects in the Oort Cloud
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
2021-09-01 v2 Astrophysics of Galaxies
Abstract
Here, we show that the detection of Borisov implies that interstellar objects outnumber Solar system objects in the Oort cloud, whereas the reverse is true near the Sun due to the stronger gravitational focusing of bound objects. This hypothesis can be tested with stellar occultation surveys of the Oort cloud. Furthermore, we demonstrate that of carbon and oxygen in the Milky Way Galaxy may be locked in interstellar objects, saturating the heavy element budget of the minimum mass Solar nebula model.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2011.14900,
title = {Interstellar Objects Outnumber Solar System Objects in the Oort Cloud},
author = {Amir Siraj and Abraham Loeb},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2011.14900},
year = {2021}
}
Comments
4 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters